In computer display systems, it is desirable to present information to a user in an organized manner. Most computer operating systems include graphical user interfaces that display information to a user using graphical objects, which will be referred to herein as display objects. One common example of a display object that is used to display information to a user is a window object. A window object includes a frame that encloses the information being displayed to the user. The window object may also include controls for controlling display of information within the window object.
A window object may be divided into tabbed portions or tabs for organizing display of different information. For example, the System Properties window object displayed by the Microsoft Windows XP® operating system contains various folder tabs for managing hardware and software aspects associated with a computer system. Examples of tabs that are available via the System Properties window object include a General tab, a Computer Name tab, a Hardware tab, and an Advanced tab. Each of these tabs displays different information to a user and allows the user to modify computer system properties. However, the Microsoft Windows XP® operating system does not allow a user to add new tabs to existing window objects or to organize or group tabs that are related to each other.
In addition to being used by operating systems to organize the display of information to a user, tabs have also been used by applications, such as web browsers. However, some conventional web browsers lack the ability to simultaneously display multiple web pages using tabs. Web browsers include web clients that allow a user to contact and obtain information from web servers. Web browsers display information received from web servers in window object display areas. Using the current Microsoft Internet Explorer® web browser, each web page returned by a web server occupies the entire web page viewing area of the web browser window object. When a user selects a new web page by clicking on a link within the web page viewing area, the new web page replaces the original web page. The only way of using the current version of Microsoft Internet Explorer® to simultaneously view two or more web pages is to open another instance of the browser.
In light of this shortcoming of conventional web browsers, web browsers that allow users to simultaneously display multiple web pages using tabs have been developed. For example, the Firefox® web browser available from Mozilla Corporation allows the simultaneously display of multiple web pages using tabs. The ability to create and navigate web page tabs is referred to as tabbed browsing and allows a user to quickly switch between previously accessed web pages. Tabs are arranged in a horizontal array in order of creation in the web page viewing area. In order to select a tab and view the corresponding web page, the user clicks on the tab. The selected tab blocks the view of content in the remaining tabs.
One problem associated with tab-based web browsers and other tab-based interfaces is that these interfaces do not provide mechanisms for reordering or grouping tabs. For example, the above-described Mozilla Firefox® browser displays tabs in order of creation and does not allow tabs to be re-ordered or grouped. Downloadable extensions to tab-based browsers allow users to select the location of newly opened tabs. However, such extensions do not automatically group tabs in a manner that utilizes content relationships and user interaction levels.
Accordingly, in light of these difficulties, there exists a need for methods, systems, and computer program products for grouping tabbed portions of a display object based on content relationships and user interaction levels.